Agilent adds PXIe, AXIe modular products
Agilent Technologies is augmenting its modular product lineup with a new high-performance PXIe vector signal analyzer, a PXIe embedded controller, and an AXIe chassis and system module. Mario Narduzzi, modular solutions marketing manager, said the new products complement the company's existing line of RF/microwave PXI instruments and AXIe high-speed digitizers and arbitrary waveform generators.
Combined with signal-generation and analysis software plus assorted chassis and basic modular instruments and switches, Agilent's modular offerings serve the gamut of test applications, including design and simulation, R&D, design validation, and manufacturing.
Vector signal analyzer
The new M9393A PXIe performance vector signal analyzer (VSA) operates to from 9 kHz to 27 GHz for manufacturing and design validation of transmitters and components for radar as well as military, satellite, and commercial wireless communications.
It offers a 160-MHz analysis bandwidth, ±0.15-dB absolute amplitude accuracy, -160-dBm displayed average noise level (DANL) with preamplifier, and +30-dBm third-order intermodulation (TOI). It delivers frequency switching in less than 150 µs to reduce test time and increase throughput.
The M9393A leverages Agilent’s X-Series measurement applications and 89600 VSA software to offer programmatic compatibility with Agilent’s bench-top signal analyzers to maximize test code reuse. The 89600 VSA software’s new stepped spectrum capability allows the M9393A to measure across 27 GHz in less than 1 s, with 10-kHz resolution bandwidth, for fast measurements of harmonics and spurs. The X-Series measurement applications for modular instruments can be used with the M9393A to simplify device conformance testing for LTE and WLAN.
The M9393A is designed for extensibility via license-key upgradeable options for frequency, analysis bandwidth, preamplifiers, and memory.
The M9393A is now available for order and will ship in July. The list price is from $42,000.
Embedded controller
Using the new Agilent M9037A PXIe embedded controller, the M9393A measurement capability speed is increased. A high-performance PC computer designed for complex or multi-chassis systems and secure environments, the M9037A features a 2.4-GHz quad-core processor with up to 12-GB/s data bandwidth. The high-speed CPU is based on the Intel i7 4700EQ and adds the advantage of fast computation speeds, such those as needed for EVM and power measurements.
The M9037A features a front-panel removable 240 GB solid-state drive and provides the performance, reliability, and security required for aerospace/defense, RF, semiconductor, wireless communications, general-purpose, electronic functional test, or other PXIe modular test system application.
The M9037A controller’s 12-GB/s data bandwidth from the CPU to the PXIe backplane switch is achieved using the PCIe with a potential of up to 24 PCIe lanes. It offers a front panel x8 PCIe high-bandwidth connection to external PCIe devices, such as a second PXIe chassis or a RAID storage device, providing a unique alternative to using a valuable PXIe instrument slot.
The Agilent M9037A PXIe controller is available now. The base price is $6,950.
AXIe chassis and system module
The 14-slot M9514A AXIe chassis and M9521A system module allow test engineers working in radar, antenna, high-energy physics, and high-speed digital applications to set up large systems with all modules in a single chassis, providing better module-to-module synchronization and performance and a single connection to a host computer. A test engineer can connect multiple AXIe and PXIe chassis for ultimate system-design flexibility.
“We are the first to deliver a high-performance AXIe chassis enabling large systems and phase-coherent measurements across many modules,” said Narduzzi. “Our goal is to develop and deliver innovative modular solutions that enable customers to meet their unique development requirements.”
The 14-slot M9514A AXIe chassis and M9521A system module meet AXIe 1.0 and 2.0 specifications and offer front-panel Gen 2 PCIe x8 access for connecting multiple chassis and gigabit LAN interfaces to connect to the host computer. They also support 62 differential local bus lines with very large data paths between adjacent modules. An innovative cooling design offers 200-W cooling capability per slot.
Instrument control is enabled through a soft front panel and programmatic interfaces tuned to the user’s choice of application development environment. Using Agilent’s IO Libraries Suite allows fast and easy integration into existing test environments.
The Agilent M9514A AXIe 14-slot chassis is $38,000, and the Agilent M9521A AXIe System Module is $8,000. Both products are available now.